US warns Asian Development Bank it risks becoming 'irrelevant'

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2008

MADRID (AFP) — The United States, the Asian Development Bank's second-biggest donor, warned the institution on Tuesday it risked becoming irrelevant if it fails to adapt to the region's rapid economic expansion.

"It's important for the ADB to stick to its overall mission, but at the same time it's important for it to realise that it's an institution that needs to be almost continuously evolving," said US Assistant Secretary for International Affairs Clay Lowery.

"If it fails to evolve it's going to become irrelevant," said Lowery, who is heading the US delegation at the bank's board of governors meeting in Madrid.

"Our view is that the ADB is doing a pretty good job and it can do an even better job going forward, but it is going to have to evolve with the...